“You. Will. Shower. Now!” I yelled and pointed to his bathroom as I picked up his discarded blood-soaked clothes with some of the other clothes he’d left on the ground. I held them away from me as I went to the wastebin and dropped them in.
“Hey! That shirt you used to pick those up with is still good.”
I leveled him with a glacial glare as I barked, “Not anymore.”
Then I turned and walked out of his room, hearing him grumble underneath his breath about my “germaphobe ass” as he turned on the shower. Good. I didn’t care if he made fun of me, only that he cleaned up so I didn’t have to see all his filth cover the house.
We had common areas, and they needed to be respectful of that. I didn’t want to have another house meeting about keeping the communal areas clean of their trash and bodily fluids. Those were never enjoyable meetings but were necessary every few years when War got lazy. Con was relatively clean but again would have his messy periods. D rarely spent time outside of his room other than eating and the occasional need to feel involved. I didn’t blame him. His power always affected him, but he had learned to channel it for the better. It even helped him with his job.
I walked into my study and was reminded all over again that War had tracked his grime and defilement all over the hallway and my study floors. As I stared at the bright red footprints against my immaculate white carpet, I could feel my brain’s neurons starting to snap. I pulled out my phone, gripping it so tight it groaned, and immediately called Wicked Quick maid service. It was a company run by demons of destruction and was the best in the business.
If you asked for the wicked supreme special, they would use magic to clean the place and make sure not a speck of grime was left, including blood. As I talked to them, I learned they had a recent cancellation and were able to pop over immediately. I gave them temporary access through the wards, and they were done in less than ten minutes.
I was finally able to take a moment and breathe in all that grapefruit freshness—they liked to use organic chemicals—and looked around to see everything was in place again. Order had been restored.
I moved back over to my desk, ready to think about my plans for Miss Darkstar. When I had first made the dossier about her for my brothers, it was hard for me to not be impressed with her on paper. She chose not to tell anyone about her parentage and to go so far as to hide it. I asked around personally to make sure it was true. It also made sense, because if some demoness was on this side of the realms claiming direct lineage to Lucifer, it would have spread like wildfire and worked its way to our ears on the east coast.
She not only didn't take advantage of that, but she’d started her company from the ground up. She began by representing some C- and B- list entertainers, who had skyrocketed once they’d started to work with her. I was sure magic and deals were a part of that, but still, for a demon to take the high road and build something themselves was… not common practice.
After she’d gotten a good chunk of money doing what she had, she’d started a demon website to help other demons find work. To help them be an active member of the society while giving them a safe and regular place to feed.
Most of the time when a demon made it up into this side of the planes, they were usually starved by expending so much energy to get here. When a demon was starved, bad things tended to happen. Mass murders, suicides out of nowhere, people being convinced to do the unthinkable. By her starting up this avenue for demons, which was talked about by all types of supernatural beings locally, those occurrences had decreased by seventy percent.
She was known for having a shrewd mind for business and deal-making, which had garnered her the attention of some of the most influential and ruthless demons on the west coast. The even more surprising part was they all liked her. Supposedly, she had met with each of them individually and made deals to ensure the peace between them. Or at least that's what was said on the streets.
If all of that wasn’t impressive enough, she had been known to work with all kinds of Others, which was again not common practice amongst the demon community. They were the bunch who liked to know what you could do for them before they even talked to you. So if you were not of great power or in a position that they needed access to, you were not worth their time, energy, or effort. Most others, unless royalty or the originals, didn’t have an exemplary amount of magic at their fingertips.
As we were categorized as an “Other”, I appreciated her thoughts and efforts. We were all on this plane, hiding from humans for as long as possible. It only made sense that we would work together rather than apart for that common goal.
Then there was her looks. She was more appealing than any other being I had come in contact with. Her silken dark mane fell in large curls below her shoulders, her lips were luscious and tempting, and her skin was creamy and flawless. Her deep curves drew the eyes naturally to her ample, voluptuous chest and her round hourglass hips, down her toned strong legs and arms.
She was perfect. Sinful and wicked perfection. Which was why I didn’t want my brothers to have her photo as a distraction for what they needed to do, and yet they still couldn’t complete it.
I didn’t keep all her pictures for myself in my desk to jerk off to when the mood struck. That would be unbecoming of me. My hand hovered over my left top drawer, wanting to do just what I was thinking, and it took true willpower not to. I glanced over at the folder and reminded myself of what my task was now, since my brothers had failed. I needed to focus on my plan, on what I had already put in place, just in case it came down to me.
I slowly moved my hand to grip the page that had her schedule, trying to force myself to not think about those photos that I was sure didn’t do her justice. How could they, when she had already bewitched both my brothers, who were no strangers to casual sex with beautiful women? No, I needed to stay strong and not fall into temptation.
I looked at the page again. I already had my meeting booked with her tomorrow, and I was excited. I lifted the large six-inch binder that I’d sent to her office, which she had returned with all of her changes, and smiled. When I’d figured out that she had just signed a client from my firm, I’d bargained with the lawyer in charge of that client to say that he was out of the country this month, but that he would have me handle all her dealings, which included signing on a media company. I’d made a ridiculous contract with hidden addendums, fine print, and misleading words to test her and see how good she really was.
I stroked my fingers over the binder in appreciation. All those red changes must have taken her all day, but she’d done them. She’d even made changes that I hadn’t even counted on or caught.
Since both of my brothers had tried and failed— I was sure they used their powers to fall back on, which was an obvious mistake—I’d decided that I was going to make her think I was human. I was going to take one of those tonics that I’d purchased from a dark witch for times like these when trickery might work better than the honest approach.
After hours of research and trying to find a flaw I could exploit, I found only one thing that might mean anything to her, her company. Her employees. I knew that with a multi-million-dollar deal like this, it was huge for her business. This was one of those deals that could take her company from big to legendary, causing a flock of others to come and bask in the glory.
No, I was going to meet with her, have her think everything was fine and the deal was closed. Then when everyone had left, I would keep her back and let her know the real deal. If she wanted this contract and everything that came with it, she was going to have to go through the portal. If her choice was to walk free, she’d lose the biggest deal of her existence. In addition, I would make it my personal mission to blackball her to ensure that no one my firm worked with would ever work with her. Or she could choose to go through the portal, then her business would become legendary and her employees would keep their jobs.
Clean and simple. Harsh, but necessary for me and my brothers to get out of the debt we owed to her father. That was the goal, after all, to clear off our debt.
But we will never be truly free. We will always have the weight of our purpose on our shoulders.
I shivered at my own thoughts. They had plagued my mind since I opened my eyes and learned what we were created for all those centuries ago. What was to happen to us after we fulfilled our destiny? Would we be left powerless? Would we die?
Out of all of us, I was the brother who was the thinker, the one who ensured that we lived the lives that we did. The one who made sure my brothers stayed in line and didn't get into too much trouble. I was the one who dealt with demons regularly. I tried to keep their hands clean of anything and everything, so they could live their lives however they wanted, no strings. It was eating me alive to know that I didn’t understand what would happen to us, that I couldn't plan for after.
Worry and fear flooded through me as those dark thoughts spiraled until I heard a knock on the door.
“Come in,” I called out, shaking my head to clear my mind before I faced one of my brothers.
